We follow a lot of prospects here at WashingtonPreps.com and at the Rivals.com network. Phone interviews, emails, games we attend, you name it we are there.

We do a great job of helping kids get their story out. Pictures help. Feature stories help and a Rivals.com database profile can help.

This is a big network. There are hundreds of websites and publishers that use the content we create. The featured stories we write get picked up by fans, recruiters, and coaches and many times than get forwarded via email.

The one thing that makes the most difference for a young athlete looking to break through to the college level is quality film. Game film and a highlight reel are perhaps the single most important thing that a recruit can do to help themselves.

Coaches will tell us all the time when we are speaking about a kid that we have in the database that "He sounds great....I need to see film". For us getting film seems to be the biggest problem. It really shouldn't be.

Videographers are easy to find. If you can not do it yourself you can hire one for a couple hundred bucks and get footage shot and made into a meaningful highlight preview. As a guideline I like 3 minutes.

The film should show offense and defense and be a fair depiction of a players ability. That film can be put on a disc and sent to us via our contact address on the site here. Another easy way to do this which makes sense is to upload the film to YouTube and we can retrieve it from there. In this way the athlete has it in two places and it can be shared with others.

In a story breaking today in the Oregonian 2005 Orting High Standout Joe Halahuni was featured. He is at OSU now making his mark after an incredible come back from many setbacks. In that article

" Halahuni was around 6-foot-2 and 235 pounds when he was a senior, and his highlight film on Rivals.com was eye-popping - one-handed catches, leaps over single and double-coverage to snatch the ball, and long runs where he swatted away tacklers like they were flies.

"It was incredible,'' said Riley, who hasn't had an impact tight end at Oregon State since Joe Newton was on campus." By Paul Buker, The OregonianSeptember 23, 2009, 1:01PM

The lesson here is that next to hard work and grades film is probably the #1 thing that a would be player needs to take care of. Once a prospect has film then the power of the internet and email can work for the athelte. I preach this. Film. Film. Film.

Kids can not do it and so it falls on the coaches and parents and after all the years of hard work these kid put in I am always shocked at how many never get film. In fact I would venture to say that most kids never have film made.

If your athlete is on the verge their sophomore year get film. The Junior year film is crucial. Even the first few games of senior year film can make a difference.

In conclusion film is huge and it was nice to see that confirmed today in the article quoted above. Bottom line help the player in your life out and get film!